It was a game that had almost everything – great tries, five changes of lead and even a late penalty that hit the post that would have changed the result.
But in the end it was the ability of the Saracens to dig deep for their former team mate that determined the result. They refused to leave Principality Stadium without the silverware they wanted to dedicate to Tucker.
“I didn’t ever think we had it won. I even looked at the scoreboard and thought we were one point down when we were actually leading,” said Sarries skipper Lavender.
“Fair play to Tonna, I think that’s the darkest place we’ve ever gone. We’ve had a tough year with the loss we had, but I definitely feel that we had an extra person with us today.
“Dale was one of our brothers since the age of 15. Some of us played the game with him on the day that he passed away, and this was our tribute to him.
“What a place to come to play rugby. I was lucky enough to come here with Newport in 2018, when we lost to Merthyr, so to come back again and play in front of my family and friends was very special.”
Even though they out-scored Tonna 4-3 in tries, the Gwent side were forced to heave a heavy sigh of relief when Nicky Fisher’s difficult penalty attempt two minutes rebounded off the far upright, The margin between victory and defeat was that close in an enthralling encounter.
Tonna were without former Wales prop Craig Mitchell, their player-coach, who has been playing in the back row since returning to his village club, but were quickly out of the starting blocks.
Centre Josh Ebbitt got the opening try after being involved twice in a movement featuring Fisher, full back Sam Pridgeon and left-wing Ben Thomas. There was a stroke of good fortune to the blindside snipe when Thomas’ pass inside deflected off the hand of a Saracens player for Ebbitt to pounce for an unconverted score.
Saracens weren’t fazed and put together some dangerous phases before a lovely angle from Liam Foley, who had floated infield from the right-wing, saw him time his run on to a crisp pass from outside-half Sam Bevan to sidestep the last line of defence for a gem of a try.
Bevan converted and they continued to pose a threat with their pace and passing. However, some handling mistakes proved costly and Tonna regained the lead with a monster 49 metre penalty from Fisher against the run of play.
“A penalty hit the post in the last couple of minutes and that was the difference between winning and losing. Fair play to the Saracens, though, they full deserved their win,” said Tonna skipper Callum McPhee.
“We know what teams from the East can do because we played Crumlin here in the final two years ago. Now we’ll go for the league title and continue our rise. I hope we can get some more players in on the back of our success.”
Saracens centre Adam Davies was proving a handful and twice played a part as he looped around to go over for an unconverted try to put them back in front, 12-8.
Fisher replied with his second successful penalty to narrow the arrears to a point, but Saracens finished an entertaining half by bagging a third try, hard-working flanker Kirk Lewis diving over for a 17-11 lead.
Whatever words were spoken in the Tonna camp at half-time, they were galvanised for the start of the second half and cashed in after Saracens’ No.8 Kyle Tucker was sin-binned for a professional foul.
Tonna No 8 Josh Hughes made an angled run to score, Fisher converting for the lead to change hands for a fourth time, 18-17. Fisher and Bevan then each fired penalties wide.
Saracens responded to the Tonna offensive by mounting their own with a sustained attack culminating in left-wing James Raymond forcing his way over for their fourth try. Foley took over the goal-kicking and smacked the difficult conversion between the uprights to put them ahead, 24-18.
But it’s never over until it’s over, and Tonna piled on the pressure at the other end with Thomas being bundled into touch by a welcoming committee of four as he dived for the corner.
Another counter saw Thomas race through to put fellow wing Gavin Richards over, but Fisher failed with the conversion and the Division 4 West Central leaders trailed by a point. But that was as good as it got for the brave Tonna team, with Fisher facing the final agony of seeing his late penalty attempt hit the upright
DIVISION 4 CUP FINAL – NEWPORT SARACENS 24 – 23 TONNA
Newport Saracens: Dex Lewis; Liam Foley, Stef Morgan, Adam Davies, James Raymond; Sam Bevan, Tom James; John Lavender (captain), Ewan Burrows, Blake Climo, Elliot Shotton, Joe Corten, Pat James, Kyle Tucker, Kirk Lewis
Reps: Josh Davidson, Kieran Pugsley, Sam Parselle, Jordan Howells, Joel Thomas, George Ovey, Andrew Morris, Cordell Wilson
Scorers: T: L Foley, A Davies, K Lewis, J Raymond; C S Bevan, L FoleyTonna: Sam Pridgeon; Gavin Richards, Josh Ebbitt, Jason Evans, Ben Thomas; Nicky Fisher, Lloyd Evans; Josh Jones, Kieran Cole, Jonny Thomas, Luke Payne, Andrew Millard, Ieuan Davies, Callum McPhee (captain), Josh Hughes
Reps: Dafydd Thomas, Matthew Rees, Pat Grey, Ross Price, Tom Parry, Ben Williams, Nathan Cameron, Kelan Slattery
Scorers: T: J Ebbitt J Hughes, G Richard; C: N Fisher; P: N Fisher 2Go.Compare Player of the Match: Kirk Lewis (Newport Saracens)
